Ed asks:
>      I have multiple jobs appending to a flat file.  The file is a
> status
>      file to which we write a line describing how processes are running.
>
>      My COBOL program open mode is EXTEND.  It doesn't like it when
> another
>      job (same program) has the file open.  The job aborts.
>
>      Do I need a shr option?  Should I use suprtool or fcopy to append
>      instead of my cobol program?  Do I need to use intrinsics?  Should
> I
>      have a special type of file (i.e., message)?

I'd try:    ; SHR; GMULTI

SHR says it's ok for multiple people to access the file at the same
time.

GMULTI says please use the same file pointer as all other users who've
specified GMULTI.

(MULTI says "please use the same file pointer as all other users
in the same job/session (as me) who've also specified MULTI")

(NOMULTI says "I want my own file pointer")

(GMULTI/MULTI/NOMULTI have nothing to do with "MR" (which
stands for "Multi-Record"))

SS